I'm excited being from Chicago, especially when Chicago has the chance to get two consecutive #1 overall picks. Next year they have the option to switch picks with the Knicks, which seems like a lock to be a lottery pick. Who ya got tonight and who would you take #1 overall.

1. Aldridge
2. Thomas

I'm not real excited about the draft this year. There doesnt seem to be that big star player that people are hoping to get with that Number 1 pick. My top 2 players are:

1. Adam Morrison
2. Shelden Williams

Now I dont know about the European guys so I cant comment on them. But I'm picking these 2 as my top choices because I'm fairly confident they'll be able to start for an NBA team for the next 10 years. The chances of those 2 being a complete bust is extremely low. You wait a long time to get the Top Pick and the chances are you desperately need help. The is not the time to gamble.

I agree the talent is fairly low and so is the market to trade the top picks.

And the first pick overall goes to the.....




















Toronto Raptors!

I'm happy with number 2, if nothing else, hopefully the Bulls can trade it to the Knicks for their next 8 picks.

So sick, I watched the lottery live and I can't believe it! I feel like I won something, lol. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like there is an easy #1 choice this season. No Lebron...

1st pick.. nice! Here Colangelo... welcome to T.O. Now don't **** up!

Dont worry, the Raptors cant screw this up (unless they're absolutely brain dead). Since the Raptors already have Bosh and Villanueva down low, the obvious guy they should take with the top pick is Morrison. I would be shocked if they didnt take him. It just doesnt make sense to take the other big guys.

That would give the Raptors a starting line-up of James, Peterson, Morrison, Villanueva, and Bosh. That looks pretty good.

(Note: I know James had said he wants to play in Houston, but that assumes the Rockets want him as well and can afford to pay him. It might happen, but I think there's a slightly better chance he stays in Toronto.)

They're gonna pick Tyrus Thomas unless they're offered an amazing trade. They might as well put Bosh at center in the weak east, Villu and Thomas at the forward. They finally have a defensive presence/rebounder/shot blocker with Thomas. If they draft Tyrus he has yet to develop a jump shot and won't score much. Therefore, they should resign Mike James! one of the most underrated players in the NBA. They got Mopete at the 2 and can use some more of their cap space for another wing, and a center, if there is a decent one available. If they don't resign James, they better get a decent PG like Bibby, the FA crop is weak out there, and with James they can be a 7 or 8 seed in the playoffs next year

The feeling around here is that Mike James will sign with Houston

Yea i heard that too. I think his family lives here and he liked the Rockets when he played here. But the Rockets dont have a lot of money to spend. It depends on what the Rockets decide to do with the money they have available.

Isnt that already Chris Bosh?

The bulls have a ton of talent, hopefully they pick up someone decent and not a project like Darko.

Visit this site frequently, they update their mock draft often:

http://www.nbadraft.net/



Well, I dont think the Raptors will make a bad pick again (Araujo) since their new GM, Colangelo, Is awesome. I think this team is going to get good in a hurry, they could compete to win their division in 2 years.

Yea, thier front line is pretty solid now and James is a underrated player if they can resign him. Morris Peterson is serviceable, so they can get better in a hurry with some good offseason moves.

I might have to take back my Morrison prediction. I've read some good arguments that the Raptors should take Aldridge from Texas or the 7-footer from Europe. Basically hoping that those guys can play center and Bosh can still play the 4 spot.

Ok now I've confused myself, and I'm conviced the Raptors can easily screw this up. And all the different Number 1 options are also making it tough to predict the following picks.

As much as I loved the MOUSTACHE when he was in Gonzaga, taking him #1 would be a TRAVESTY. To me, it looks like either Aldridge or Thomas. I dont want to see us draft another "NBA ready centre" from Europe, even if he's apparently the next Dirk.

The problem with taking Aldridge is when he played agaisnt other big time players in college, they tore him up. I think he needed another year in college. Everyone says Thomas has a ton of upside with his athletisim, but he is far from polished on the offensive side. I loved Morrison in college, but I am not sure how good of a defender he will be on the next level.

I think the safest player in the draft is Brandon Roy from Washington.

Also Aldridge and Bosh are similar players. I dont see Aldridge bulking up to play center.

The Raptors were one of the worst teams on defense last year, and the coach was constantly telling the media how they needed "toughness" on the interior. He would play at Center whoever went the hardest for the rebounds on the offensive/defensive sides, and made it hard for the opposing teams to drive to the basket. Bosh is an average rebounder, but he is thin and definitely NOT someone you are scared going up against when you're driving to the lane. Ben and Rasheed, Brand, Kirilenko, Shaq, hell even Kaman makes it easier for everyone else on defense because you know you have a reliable shot blocker protecting your back. This is what Tyrus Thomas will bring, even as a PF. I have visited nbadraft.net for the past six years and they currently have Aldridge at #1 but they're not always correct, they are just predictors like us. I think in individual workouts the Raptors will see Thomas is a better fit with much more upside than Aldridge, who defintely is a big body but not an intimidator/shot blocker in the middle. You don't need prototypical size players to be a great team, look at Colangelo's former team, the Suns with 6'9 slight frame Boris Diaw at center, and 6'7 leeper Shawn Marion at the PF. I think Tyrus/Bosh will be an amazing combo in the years to come, better than Aldridge/Bosh. Tyrus's speed and athleticism is more valuable to the team Colangelo wants to build. He can really run the floor, almost like Marion, and block shots from behind. Aldridge is solid, but from what I've watched of him in Texas vs. big name teams he was nothing special. Just a really big man that was able to sort of dominate college bball with his length.
If they don't pick Tyrus, the Raps will be cursed with five years bad luck!

OK, this is where I show my total lack of basketball knowledge, but why is JJ Redick rated so low?

That's not the worst question. I think Reddick has the range for the NBA,but he had trouble getting shots off against long players (Like everyone in the NBA). If he goes to a team with a good big man, I think it would really help him. Problem is,there's very few good big men.

He isn't that great off the dribble creating his own shots, and he will likely be a 2 guard in the NBA where he will be guarding some of the best players in the game. Right now, he is a situational player at best.

On the bright side for him since he will be likely going to a playoff team he won't be asked to come in and be a star, just fill a role which he is capable of.

The reason JJ Reddick is rated low is because he just isnt the type of player who will be your Number 1 option. But with the right team, he could be an excellent complimentary player. If he played with a team like the Rockets or Cavs, all he would have to do is sit out at the 3 point line and hit wide-open treys all day long. He could easily do that. Reddick needs to work on his D though, but thats about it. I could easily see him having a Jeff Hornacek type of career (and yes thats a compliment).

With Tyrus Thomas, I dont think it would be a big error not to take him Number 1. He's just not that far ahead of the other top players. Let's be realistic here. He's getting all the attention because he had a good tournament. But this guy was not even close to being considered the top college player in the nation (or even on his own team). I'm not saying he shouldnt go Number 1, but I really havent seen enough of him (in terms of production and years played) to say he's by far the top player in the draft.

The Raptors have a lot of options here. It depends on where they want to go with this pick. But consider this, they picked a power forward last year (Villanvueva) and they also picked one 3 years ago (Bosh). Both of those were excellent picks. Are they really going to take another power forward? I firmly believe in taking the best player, but in this case, I would only do that if I thought the guy was an absolute cant miss player who was by far the best player in the draft. I dont think Tyrus is that much better than the other players.

If they keep the #1 pick, I think they take Lamarcus Aldridge who is probably the best fit giving them a legit center who's also a good friend of Chris Bosh. That's a very athletic and skilled frontcourt with Aldridge, Bosh and Villanueva on the floor. I would like to see them move down and pick up a pick around #5 and get another good player in return. My favorite player in the draft is Marcus Williams. I think he's the truth and will be a very good pointguard in the league. I'm probably in the minority for that option, but I really like what Marcus can do on the floor and will give the team a pass first pointguard who can score/shoot when needed. He's got amazing court vision and is a good uptempo pointguard who's got a high basketball IQ.

I don't think there's much of a chance Mike James re-signs here, he's going to look for a multi-year deal and it doesn't make much sense for a young and upcoming team like ours to sign a 31 yr old shoot first pointguard who had a career year in a contract year. The good thing having the #1 pick is lots of options, unfortunately there's no consensus #1 so the pick is not as valuable as most years. We'll see how everything goes down though, should be interesting.

I dont expect Toronto to trade this pick for two reasons:

1. Teams rarely ever trade the top pick. You have to go back to 1993 to find the last time it happened (Chris Webber for Penny Hardaway), and I cant even remember when it happened before 1993. And the main reason the trade in 1993 went down is because the Magic selected Shaq the year before and got lucky in the lottery. They already had a superstar player. The 1st pick means a lot to the teams.

2. Who are people going to want to trade up to get? There's no clear cut superstars in this draft and there's a lot of balance at the top. There's no guy that you can say right now will be the foundation for you're team. You cant even say one guy is clearly better than the rest of the group. Even in 1993 when this last happened, Webber was considered the type of guy you build around. That prediction wasnt too far off. Webber did have a good career. So taking that into consideration, even if they do trade the pick, I would not expect them to get much in return.

This is either a coincedence or a message. I'm not sure but decide for yourselves.

A man named Maurizio Gherardini is very close to getting a front office job with the Raptors (I think its assistant GM). Gherardini is the GM of a team in Europe named Benetton Treviso. Well Andrea Bargnani plays for that very team. He's the same European player who keeps getting mentioned as one of the top players in the draft (possibly the 1st pick).

Now this could mean nothing, but at least the Raptors would have a guy who definately knows Bargnani. And Gherardini, if he is indeed hired, will likely have a lot of input about the top pick. I wouldnt be too suprised if he plugs the player he's the most familiar with.

Now Colangelo aknowledges that there is no immediate frachise player in the draft and mentions several players as being worthy of the top pick. He also says that he will take the best player regardless of position (a strategy I agree with). But the word is that Colangelo is high on Bargnani.